List of largest pharmaceutical mergers and acquisitions

The following table lists the largest mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry (those over $10 billion). Transactions are recorded by the highest transaction dollar value (rather than using the inflation adjusted values).

Largest mergers and acquisitions

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R	Year	Purchaser	Target	Transaction type	Value — with debt (in billions USD)	Value — with debt (adjusted for inflation)	Ref
1	1999	Pfizer	Warner-Lambert	Acquisition	111.8	204
2	2000	Glaxo Wellcome plc	SmithKline Beecham	Merger (formed GlaxoSmithKline)	76.0	134
3	2019	Bristol-Myers Squibb	Celgene	Acquisition	74.0 — 95.0	88 — 113
3	2004	Sanofi	Aventis	Acquisition	73.5	104
4	2015	Actavis	Allergan, Inc	Acquisition	70.5	91
5	2009	Pfizer	Wyeth	Acquisition	68.0	97
6	2002	Pfizer	Pharmacia	Acquisition	64.3	109
7	2018	Takeda Pharmaceutical	Shire	Acquisition	62.0	75
8	2016	Bayer	Monsanto	Acquisition	54.5 — 63.5	69 — 81
9	2009	Merck & Co.	Schering-Plough	Acquisition	47.1	67
10	2009	Roche	Genentech	Acquisition	44.0	62
11	2014	Medtronic	Covidien	Acquisition	42.3	54
12	2015	Teva Pharmaceutical Industries	Actavis	Business Unit	40.5	52
13	2010	Novartis	Alcon	Acquisition	39.3	55
14	2016	Shire	Baxalta	Acquisition Unit	32.0 — 35.0	41 — 44
15	2016	Abbott Laboratories	St Jude Medical	Acquisition	30.5	39
16	1998	Astra AB	Zeneca	Merger (formed AstraZeneca)	30.4	57
17	2017	Johnson & Johnson	Actelion	Acquisition	30.0	37
18	1996	Ciba-Geigy	Sandoz	Merger (formed Novartis)	29.0	56
19	2006	Boston Scientific Abbott Laboratories	Guidant	Acquisition	27.2	41
20	1999	Pharmacia & Upjohn	Monsanto	Merger	25.2	46
21	2016	Abbott Laboratories	St Jude Medical	Acquisition	25.0 — 30.5	32 — 39
22	2015	AbbVie	Pharmacyclics	Acquisition	21.0	27
23	2014	Actavis	Forest Laboratories	Acquisition	20.7	27
24	2011	Sanofi	Genzyme Corporation	Acquisition	20.1	27
25	2012	Johnson & Johnson	Synthes	Acquisition	19.7	26
26	2006	Bayer	Schering	Acquisition	18.4	28
27	2016	Quintiles	IMS Health	Merger (formed QuintilesIMS)	17.6	22
28	2015	Pfizer	Hospira	Acquisition	17.0	22
29	2014	Merck Group	Sigma-Aldrich	Acquisition	17.0	22
30	2001	Amgen	Immunex	Acquisition	16.8	29
31	2006	Johnson & Johnson	Pfizer Consumer Health	Business Unit	16.6	25
32	2014	Novartis	GlaxoSmithKline Oncology	Business Unit	16.0	21
33	2015	Valeant	Salix Pharmaceuticals	Acquisition	15.8	20
34	2007	AstraZeneca	MedImmune	Acquisition	14.7	22
35	2007	Schering Plough	Organon International	Acquisition	14.5	21
36	1995	Glaxo	Wellcome	Acquisition	14.2	28
37	2014	Bayer	Merck & Co Consumer Health	Business Unit	14.2	18
38	2014	Zimmer Inc.	Biomet Inc.	Acquisition	13.4	17
39	2019	Amgen	Otezla (drug programme)	Acquisition	13.4	16
40	2006	Merck Group	Serono	Acquisition	13.2	20
41	2018	GlaxoSmithKline	GlaxoSmithKline–Novartis Consumer Healthcare	Acquisition	13.0	16
42	2016	Boehringer Ingelheim	Sanofi Animal Health (Merial)	Business Unit	12.4	16
43	2017	Gilead Sciences	Kite Pharma	Acquisition	11.9	15
44	2018	Sanofi	Bioverativ	Acquisition	11.6	14
45	2011	Gilead Sciences	Pharmasset	Acquisition	11.2	15
46	2013	Amgen	Onyx Pharmaceuticals	Acquisition	10.4	14
47	2020	AbbVie	Allergan	Acquisition	63.0	74
48	2024	Novo Holdings A/S	Catalent	Acquisition	16.5	17

Failed mergers and acquisitions

Rank	Year	Purchaser	Target	Value (in billions USD)	Value (adjusted for inflation)
1	2015	Pfizer	Allergan, plc	160	206	In November 2015 Pfizer announced it would acquire Allergan, plc for $160 billion ($206 billion, adjusted for inflation). However, this deal was cancelled in April 2016 due to new US tax inversion rules. Had this transaction been completed, this would have been the largest within this industry.
2	2014	Pfizer	Astra Zeneca	123	158	Significant concerns were raised by the UK Government over job security, in the end leading to a deal being abandoned due to resistance from the AstraZeneca Board.
3	2014	Pfizer	Astra Zeneca	106	137	AstraZeneca claimed the deal undervalued the company.
4	2014	Pfizer	Astra Zeneca	99	127	AstraZeneca claimed the deal undervalued the company.
5	1999	Pfizer	Warner–Lambert	82.4	151	Pfizer made a hostile bid, just after the announcement of a $72 billion deal with Wyeth, the eventual purchase price would be in excess of $90 billion.
6	1999	Wyeth	Warner–Lambert	72	132	Wyeth confirmed it has agreed a $200 billion deal with Warner–Lambert, causing Pfizer to make a hostile bid, just after the announcement.
7	1999	Wyeth	Warner–Lambert	65	119	The two companies discussed a potential merger, uniting two of the largest pharmaceutical companies. This was eventually thwarted by Pfizer, in order to maintain control of the blockbuster drug - Lipitor.
8	2016	Bayer AG	Monsanto Company Inc.	65	83	Bayer advanced talks with Monsanto's management and subsequently raised its off by $3 billion, to more than $65 billion - which represented a 2 percent increase on its previous offer. The eventual purchase price would be more than $66 billion.
9	2018	Takeda Pharmaceutical	Shire	62.5	76	Third bid, unanimously rejected by the Shire Board, who concluded that it significantly undervalue the company, its growth prospects as well as pipeline.
10	2016	Bayer AG	Monsanto Company Inc.	62	79	Bayer initially opened negotiations with an offer of $125 per Monsanto share, however management felt this undervalued the company.
11	2018	Takeda Pharmaceutical	Shire	61	74	Second bid, unanimously rejected by the Shire Board, who concluded that it significantly undervalue the company, its growth prospects as well as pipeline.
12	2018	Takeda Pharmaceutical	Shire	58.2	71	First bid, unanimously rejected by the Shire Board, who concluded that it significantly undervalue the company, its growth prospects as well as pipeline.
13	2014	Valeant Pharmaceuticals	Allergan, Inc	54	70	Valeant had pursued Botox-maker Allergan for six months. After a protracted court battle with Valeant, Bill Ackman and his Pershing Square Capital Management hedgefund on one side (which then owned 10% of Allergan) and Allergan on the other, Actavis entered the fray with a $66 billion white knight bid.
14	2014	AbbVie	Shire Pharmaceuticals	54	70	The two companies had agreed to a $54 billion deal that would allow AbbVie to move its headquarters overseas to Europe, reducing their corporate tax rate. However, the U.S. Treasury passed laws, tightening down on tax inversion deals just before the merger was completed, making the agreement much less profitable for AbbVie.
15	2014	Valeant Pharmaceuticals	Allergan, Inc	53.3	69	Valeant raised its unsolicited offer for Allergan a second time, to $53.3 billion, increasing the cash portion of the bid in an effort to win the backing of the company, with the cash-and-stock portion of the bid valuing each Allergan share at $179.25.
16	2014	Valeant Pharmaceuticals	Allergan, Inc	49.4	64	Valeant raised its unsolicited offer for Allergan Inc. to $49.4 billion, adding more cash to the bid in an effort to win backing from Allergan and its investors, with the value of each share rising to $166.16 per Allergan share.
17	2015	Monsanto Company Inc.	Syngenta AG	47	60	Monsanto dropped its hostile bid for Syngenta, refocusing on its five-year plan to double earnings and avoid a backlash from large shareholders. Subsequently, Bayer offered to purchase Monsanto, with ChemChina offering to acquire Syngenta.
18	2014	Monsanto Company Inc.	Syngenta AG	45	58	Syngenta rejecteded another unsolicited offer from Monsanto, worth $45 billion, with management saying it undervalued the company and a merger would carry significant risks. Monsanto offered to acquire the company at a price of 449 Swiss francs per Syngenta share, with approximately 45% of the price paid in cash.
19	2014	Valeant Pharmaceuticals	Allergan, Inc	45	58	Valeant Pharmaceuticals and activist investor Bill Ackman offered to buy Botox maker Allergan, proposing a cash-and-stock deal worth about $152.89.
20	2014	Monsanto Company Inc.	Syngenta AG	40	51	Monsanto weighed $40 billion unsolicited bid for Swiss rival, Syngenta aiming to avoid US corporation taxes. Monsanto and Syngenta held preliminary talks with both sets of advisers in the preceding few months, with talks centered on a combination. However, Syngenta's management decided against negotiations.
21	2015	Teva Pharmaceutical Industries	Mylan	40	51	In April, Teva offered to acquire Mylan for $40 billion, only a fortnight after Mylan offered to acquire Perrigo for $29 billion. Teva's offer for Mylan is contingent on Mylan abandoning its acquisition of Perrigo. Mylan stated in June 2015 that Teva's disclosure that it had a 1.35 percent stake in Mylan violated US anti-trust rules.
22	2015	Mylan	Perrigo	26	33	In order for the hostile takeover to go through successfully, Mylan needed 50% of Perrigos shares to be tendered under the deal. However, only 40% or 58 million shares were tendered and the hostile takeover fell through.
23	2004	Johnson & Johnson	Guidant	25.4	41	Johnson & Johnson announced that it was acquiring Guidant on December 15, 2004, for $76 a share, with the deal being approved later approved on April 27, 2005, by Guidant shareholders. However, on May 25 of the same year, Guidant reported 26 cases of implantable defibrillator failure, including a death. Johnson & Johnson announced the possibility of them pulling out from the deal, Guidant then sued Johnson & Johnson in an attempt to enforce the acquisition. However they later re-negotiated a lower price of $21.5 billion.
24	2006	Boston Scientific	Guidant	25.0	38	A day after Johnson & Johnson raised their price for Guidant to $23.2 billion, Boston Scientific announced a further increased offer.
25	2005	Boston Scientific	Guidant	24.6	38	With the lower re-negotiated a lower price of $21.5 billion between Johnson & Johnson and Guidant, Boston Scientific announced an unsolicited offer of $24.6 billion for Guidant (an offer of $72 per share of Guidant, $36 in cash and a fixed number of Boston Scientific shares valued at $36 a share).
26	2006	Johnson & Johnson	Guidant	24.2	37	After Boston Scientific increased their offer to $25 billion, Johnson & Johnson further increased their offer to $24.2 billion.
27	2006	Johnson & Johnson	Guidant	23.2	35	After the re-negotiated a lower price of $21.5 billion was trumped by Boston Scientifics offer of $24.6 billion, Johnson & Johnson raised their offer to $23.2 billion.
28	2015	Endo International	Salix Pharmaceuticals	11.2	14	Endo withdrew its $11.2 billion cash & stock offer for Salix, ending its plans to outbid Valeant Pharmaceuticals International for the company.

See also

• List of largest mergers and acquisitions